Police Discover Steroids After Brawl Involving Colorado State Football Players

A trio of college football students have brought attention to their alleged use of anabolic steroids, and possibly human growth hormone (hGH), via their involvement in a beating of two undergraduate students at the Colorado State University (CSU) on Friday, April 6, 2012. CSU football players Mike Orakpo, Colton Paulhus and Nordly Capi and CSU freshman student Donny Gocha have been charged with “disorderly conduct” which is a class 3 misdemeanor under state law.

The off-campus altercation resulted in the police obtaining a search warrant for the residences of Orakpo, Capi and Pallhus to look for “footwear and clothing with evidence of blood on them”. The warrant was executed four days after the incident.

A vial of the anabolic steroid testosterone and a bag of syringes and needles labeled with a prescription were found at the home of junior defensive end Colton Paulhus. Paulhus also claimed to have a doctor’s prescription for testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) to treat hypogonadism.

Junior linebacker Mike Orakpo, whose older brother Bryan Orakpo is a defensive end for the Washington Redskins, was named in the 90-report police report as being the owner of nine vials of suspected anabolic steroids discovered at his house.

Eight of the unlabeled vials were found in a refrigerator with syringes suggesting that the items could possibly be human growth hormone (hGH). hGH requires refrigeration after it is reconstituted. Anabolic steroids, by contrast, are very stable in solution and do not require refrigeration.

Erik Fischer, the defense attorney representing Orakpo, categorically denied that the drugs belonged to his client. Fischer disputed the police report and claimed that the nine vials of suspected steroids were not recovered from the bedroom of his client. He suggests the officer are mistaken and the allegation is simply “made up crap from the Fort Collins police department.” According to the Coloradoan.com news website, Orakpo lives in the house with his attorney Fischer and two other people.

“They’re not his,” Fischer said. “The officer’s report is incorrect. They were not taken out of his room. He categorically denies that they were his or that he uses any drugs.”

Orakpo recently passed the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) anti-doping testing procedures at the end of March 2012.

CSU football coach Jim McElwain has suspended all three football players involved in the off-campus altercation.

Anabolic steroids are classified as a Schedule 3 drug in the state of Colorado. Steroid possession is a Class 4 felony that is punishable by two to six years in prison and fines of $2,000 to $500,000 for the first offense.